How does someone living in a Muslim or Middle Eastern country feel about the furor raised over the attack on Charlie Hebdo, the French magazine? Can they not be keenly aware of this double standard in the media and politics of the so-called free, democratic world? Think about the Palestinians. They’re not for Al Qaeda, but they must be saying, “Where was this level of anger and condemnation when Gaza was being bombed every single day last summer by the Israelis? Don’t our lives matter?”
...

Now that the threat of the spread of Ebola within the United States has
diminished — for the present — news of the crisis has dropped into
the back pages of the corporate-owned major newspapers and off the broadcast
media. But the Ebola epidemic remains a continuing danger in parts of Africa
and an ongoing threat that requires worldwide attention and action....

After much intense discussion among opposition parties, mass organizations and the religious leaders of Burkina Faso, it was announced on Nov. 10 that a roadmap was agreed upon for a transition to civilian rule — after mass protests had pushed out President Blaise Compaore. This consensus must now be negotiated with the military to set the terms of the transition....

Cuban health care workers have played a leading role on the African continent for decades. The revolutionary government views its work in the fight against the Ebola Virus Disease as a manifestation of internationalism and solidarity with Africa....

An Ebola Summit held here at the Berta Dreyfus Public School 49 on Oct. 25 brought together a diverse group of people representing health care, civil rights, cultural performers, immigrants, city agencies, advocates and those in the community impacted by the Ebola virus disease (EVD). The meeting was co-sponsored by Councilperson Debi Rose and Togba Porte, chair of the African Ebola Crisis Committee. Some 30,000 West African immigrants from Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea live in an area of Staten Island known as “Little Africa.”...

Health care workers must identify those with the virus, isolate them and
monitor everybody who was exposed. This is the only way to break the chain of
infection. But, with the exception of Nigeria, the overwhelming number of cases
of Ebola in West Africa have made it impossible for health care workers to
follow up with all those exposed to the virus....

At the initiative of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, on Oct. 20
heads of state from the Bolivarian Alliance for the People of Our
Americas—Peoples’ Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP), along with health
agencies and professionals, representatives of the United Nations, the
Pan-American Health Organization and the Organization of East Caribbean States,
met in Havana to chart an action plan to help confront the Ebola epidemic in
Africa and prevent its expansion to other regions....

World Health Organization officials announced on Oct. 24 that the number of
Ebola virus disease cases now exceeds 10,000. Most people have come down with
the disease in three West African states: Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia,
where approximately 4,900 people have died....

It is impossible to ignore that the capitalist for-profit system is the greatest obstacle in the effort to control the Ebola epidemic. Capitalism has sown abject poverty and malnutrition, dismantled existing public health systems, crushed human solidarity, based the development of vaccines and cures on their profit margin and weakened human ability to survive diseases....

everal United States congressional representatives have called for a ban on travel into the U.S. from the three West African states which have been the most severely impacted by the recent Ebola Virus Disease outbreak. These proposals demanded that President Barack Obama prohibit travelers from Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia from entering the U.S....

A special session at the 69th U.N. General Assembly
discussed the spread of the Ebola virus in several West African states on Sept.
25. African Union Commission Chair Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan spoke on the worsening crisis and the need for assistance from the international community to effectively address the burgeoning impact of the disease, which has killed more than 3,100 people since March....

Eight experts and journalists visiting the West African state of Guinea were found dead in Nzerekore on Sept. 20. They went there to educate about preventing the spread of Ebola. Reports from Guinea say the delegation met with community elders, then was later attacked by youths....

Early in September, U.S. President Barack Obama announced he had carried out a targeted assassination of the leader of the Al-Shabaab Islamic resistance organization in Somalia. The group has been fighting against the Somali government and a regional military force for over six years....

In Liberia, where many people have been killed by the Ebola virus, nurses and physicians went on strike on Sept. 1, 2 and 4 due to lack of pay and the dangers they face due to the minimal resources available to address the burgeoning health care disaster....

Often the corporate media use the term “international community” to give weight to an opinion that is really the opinion of a handful of imperialist heads of state — from the U.S., its major NATO allies and Japan. Since the Israeli assault on Gaza began, the real international community is coming out into the streets, sometimes defying police violence, to show its solidarity with Gaza and Palestine and protest....

South Africa’s ruling African National Congress and its allies have expressed outrage over Israel’s attacks on Gaza. ANC Deputy Secretary General Jesse Duarte re-emphasized its position in the July 11-17 issue of ANC Today....

Since Jan. 23, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union has led 70,000 of its members in a strike in the platinum industry in South Africa, primarily over wages. The union is demanding a minimum wage for miners of 12,500 rand (US $ 1,163) per month....

A video purportedly released today by the armed Boko Haram sect based in northeast Nigeria shows what are said to be schoolgirls held for a month by the group. The group’s leader says that the young women could be released in exchange for members of Boko Haram imprisoned by the Nigerian government....

Some 260 leftist political activists from 39 countries, mostly in Latin
America and the Caribbean but including people from around the world, gathered
in Mexico City from March 27 to 29. They joined hundreds from the hosting Labor
Party (Partido del Trabajo or PT) at its 18th International Seminar. Some 100
speakers, from a broad range of left political positions, spoke on many
subjects with a common thread: the danger posed by Washington’s
aggressive posture toward all countries south of the U.S. border and especially
toward the Bolivarian government of Venezuela....

Workers are striking in both the private and public sectors in Egypt and
students are demanding jobs in Tunisia. While students in Kenya won their
strike, the demands of transport workers in Nairobi have not yet been
met....

Although escalating instability and threats of civil war have dominated the
corporate media’s coverage of the African continent, trade unions and
student organizations are raising issues that involve the workplace and
educational institutions. Workers and youth, through their unions and mass
organizations, have been expressing profound discontent with the impact of the world capitalist crisis, which has its origins in the Western imperialist
states....

A proposal submitted to the 15-member U.N. Security Council on March 3 calls
for the deployment of an additional 12,000 foreign troops to the Central
African Republic. The so-called “peacekeeping force” is ostensibly
designed to reinforce the 9,000 French, African and European Union soldiers
already in or being sent to the mineral-rich state....

With the death of Nelson Mandela on Dec. 5, 2013, the impact of his life and
political work was recognized not just by the people of South Africa and the
African continent but oppressed and struggling peoples throughout the world.
People of African descent outside of Africa cherish the legacy of Mandela that
remains an inspiration to the African-American people’s movement for
genuine equality and self-determination....

Developments in Central and East Africa have dominated news coverage of
Africa since December. The split within the ruling Sudan People’s
Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), a close ally of Washington, and the
deployment of French and African troops in the Central African Republic have
led to an escalation of Pentagon involvement in these states....

For nearly seven months in 2011, NATO planes — particularly from the
U.S., France, Britain and Canada — carried out a massive bombing campaign
in Libya intended to overthrow the government of Muammar Gaddafi....

An 11-week strike by 7,000 members of South Africa’s National Union of
Mineworkers (NUM) has resulted in a settlement granting them a raise of 9.5
percent. The strike against Northam Platinum facilities at Zondereinde was a
major challenge for the NUM in the face of intransigence by the bosses and
competition from the rival Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union
(AMCU)....

The French government has admitted that 1,600 of its troops are now deployed
in the Central African Republic, a former French colony. The CAR has faced
internal fighting between the governing Muslim-dominated Seleka coalition and
the opposition “anti-balaka” forces, which are heavily
Christian....

"Last night, the millions of the people of South Africa, majority of whom the
working class and poor, and the billions of the rest of the people the world
over, lost a true revolutionary, President Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, Tata
Madiba." * "Comrade Madiba inspired all those fighting for freedom in South Africa and around the world. He suffered long and brutal incarceration, but never became embittered and revengeful. He was elected as our first democratically elected President, but remained a humble and modest servant of his people, who never put his personal interests before his commitment to the struggle." ...

Taken from a speech given by Army Gen. Raúl Castro Ruz, president of
the Councils of State and Ministers, at the funeral honors for the historic
leader of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, in Johannesburg, Dec. 10, 2013, Year 55
of the Revolution....

South Africa’s masses poured into the streets and assigned venues to
mourn the death and celebrate the life and struggles of Nelson Rohlihahla
Mandela. From formal memorial services in Johannesburg to Mandela’s remains lying in state in Pretoria, to community gatherings and those at his residences, all culminating in the state funeral in Qunu, people from inside the country and internationally expressed their grief and appreciation for the heroic contributions of one of the most notable political figures of the 20th and early 21st centuries. At the official memorial services on Dec. 10, which took place at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg where the 2010 World Soccer Cup was held, more than 100,000 people gathered inside and around the stadium to express their condolences. There was live streaming of the memorial as well as activities surrounding the stadium....

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine expressed its deep
condolences upon the death of the South African national symbol of struggle and
solidarity against the apartheid regime, a friend of liberation movements
around the world, the leader Nelson Mandela....

Nelson Mandela’s death has drawn responses from throughout the U.S.
and the world. To oppressed and working people, Mandela was a symbol and
example of self-sacrifice and lifelong commitment to revolutionary change....

The Congress of South African Trade Unions joins all South
Africans, and millions more all over the world, in mourning the sad loss today,
5 December 2013, of the greatest ever South African and most inspirational
leader in our struggle for liberty and democracy, our beloved Comrade, Nelson
Rolihlahla Mandela....

Just after an extended period of time in lockdown, one of the Cuban Five
political prisoners inside the U.S., Hero of the Republic of Cuba Gerardo
Hernández Nordelo, dedicated this short message to the memory of Nelson
Mandela....

Last night, the millions of the people of South Africa, majority of whom the
working class and poor, and the billions of the rest of the people the world
over, lost a true revolutionary, President Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, Tata
Madiba....

U.S. military operations on Oct. 5 in Libya and Somalia were neither
isolated events nor solely prompted by the siege at Westgate shopping mall in
Nairobi, Kenya, for which the Somali-based Al-Shabaab took responsibility.
Since December, the White House has declared that it will intensify its
presence in Africa under the guise of waging the “war on
terrorism.”...

Billows of smoke emanated from the Westgate shopping
mall in Nairobi, Kenya, on the third day of a standoff among Kenyan, Israeli
and U.S. FBI forces against members of the Al-Shabaab Islamic resistance
movement based in Somalia, which had seized the mall. Reports indicated that at least 62 people have been killed since the incident began on Sept. 21, most of them civilian mall shoppers....

Journalist Nick Turse’s study, entitled “AFRICOM’s
Gigantic ‘Small Footprint,’” reviews the increasing role of
the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) at TomDispatch.com. It illustrates
why this issue should become a major focus of Western peace, anti-war and
anti-imperialist movements. Little attention has been paid to imperialist
interventions in the oppressed African nations....

Zimbabwe held national harmonized elections on July 31 that returned
President Robert Mugabe to office for his seventh term since independence in
1980. The Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front party won more than
two-thirds of the seats in the National Assembly, giving the party the capacity
to form its own government....

The Southern African nation of Zimbabwe will hold “harmonized
elections” on July 31. Registered voters will select local and national
representatives for legislative and administrative positions. This process is
the culmination of nearly five years of negotiations that grew out of the
crisis that developed around elections held in 2008....

Former members of the Kenyan Land and Freedom Army, popularly known as the
Mau Mau, along with others who were imprisoned and tortured beginning in 1952,
filed legal action in British courts demanding compensation for their
suffering....

Although the British government offered a formal apology and modest
compensation for the crimes committed against the people of Kenya during the
war of independence between 1952 and 1960, many of the veterans of the struggle
say that the existing list of victims is not complete....

Over 50 member-states of the African Union concluded its 21st
Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on May 27. The regional grouping was
commemorating the 50th anniversary of the formation of the Organization of
African Unity (OAU), which originated during the height of the anti-colonial
struggle during 1963....

A military coup on March 24 in the capital city of Bangui changed the
government of the Central African Republic. Michel Djotodia is the leader of
the Seleka Coalition, which seized power and established a new government
largely composed of political figures who had been in opposition to the former
regime....

Achebe will be remembered for his literary contributions and his fierce
criticism of colonial and postcolonial African society. His books will remain a
mainstay of libraries and classrooms for many generations to come.
Nigeria today has still not overcome the legacy of imperialism. Despite its
vast oil wealth, there is profound inequality in the country....

The 500,000 members of Tunisia’s union federation shut down this North
African country’s major cities on Feb 8 as tens of thousands joined the
funeral march in Tunis of Chokri Belaïd, slain leader of the Unified
Patriotic Democratic Movement, a Marxist and pan-Arabist organization.
According to reports, masked killers gunned down Belaïd in his car on the
morning of Feb. 6 outside his home in Tunis....

French imperialism has launched major military operations in
West and East Africa under the guise of fighting “Islamic
terrorism.” French fighter jets and commandos have gone into operation in
the north and central regions of Mali....

In response to the French imperialist intervention in January, the Coalition
of Patriotic Organizations of Mali (COPAM) called demonstrations against the
presence of foreign troops in their country. COPAM demands that the
current transitional president, Dioncounda Traoré, resign. They
target him for giving the green light to troops from the Economic Community of
West African States to intervene in Mali under the auspices of the U.N. (Radio
France International, Jan. 11)...

The war that French imperialism has escalated in its former West African
colony of Mali has now spread to neighboring Algeria. There, some 82 people
have been reported killed after an attempted seizure of hostages at a natural
gas field. Imperialist governments are lining up for a long intervention in
Africa....

French imperialism has launched major military operations in
West and East Africa under the guise of fighting “Islamic
terrorism.” French fighter jets and commandos have gone into operation in
the north and central regions of Mali....

In the Western Cape of South Africa, where farmworkers produce fruits, and
wines that are sold domestically and internationally, employees in 16 towns and
farming communities have been on strike since Nov. 6. They are demanding a
minimum wage increase from $8 to $20 per day. Many are members of the South
African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union (SACCAWU), an affiliate
of the Congress of South African Trade Unions. Nonetheless, the strikes are
similar in character to the unprotected miners’ actions....

he 11th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan was not forgotten
by anti-imperialist activists inside the United States. From New York City to
Los Angeles, and in dozens of cities in between, the ongoing war and occupation
were denounced at actions held Oct. 5-7. Initiated by the United National
Antiwar Coalition and related organizations, the series of protests demanded
“U.S./NATO out of Afghanistan!” “Hands off Syria!”
“Don’t attack Iran!” “No more drone attacks!” and
“No sanctions!” Following are outlines of actions in several
cities....

As the struggle goes on, the government investigation began into the unrest
surrounding the wildcat strike, led by rock-drill operators, at Lonmin Platinum
PLC. On Oct. 1, the proceedings in Rustenberg started with the reading of the
names of the 34 workers killed by police on Aug. 16.

Ian Farlam, the retired judge who is directing the Commission of Inquiry
into the Marikana tragedy, commented, “Our country weeps because of the
tragic loss, and this commission will work expeditiously to ensure the truth is
revealed.” (AllAfrica.com, Oct. 1)...

While staying aware of its destructive capacity, we can expand our view if
we also examine its weaknesses. The Pentagon’s Achilles’ heel lies
within the contradictions of the capitalist system that created this
monstrosity....

South African police have arrested striking workers in an effort to stem
protests and violence in the areas surrounding platinum and gold mines. Since
rock-drill operators walked off the job in August at the Lonmin Platinum
facilities at Marikana, 45 people have been killed....

Some 50 workers celebrated outside the jail as South African authorities
announced on Sept. 2 that they were provisionally dropping murder charges
against 270 miners. All the jailed workers were scheduled to be released by
Sept. 6...

hirty-four African miners were killed by police on Aug. 16 in Marikana, South Africa. Another 78 were wounded and 259 were arrested.These platinum miners were striking against Lonmin PLC-based in London-for living wages and safety. Every month a worker dies in the mines owned by Lonmin....

Aug. 20 — Striking platinum miners have defied Lonmin Platinum PLC’s back to work orders and continue their job action in Marikana, South Africa, despite a horrific police massacre and threats of termination. This is the British-based, multibillion-dollar firm’s latest ultimatum to the mineworkers, who walked off their jobs on Aug. 10 to protest low salaries and poor working conditions....

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton toured nine African countries over an 11-day period beginning Aug. 1. During the tour Washington’s top diplomat pushed U.S. militarism and verbally attacked the People’s Republic of China. Clinton’s visit comes just two weeks after a major Africa-China summit meeting in Beijing between 50 countries on the continent and Chinese government leaders....

Black Zimbabweans lost their land during the colonial era, beginning in the late 19th century. In 1998 it became clear that the Republic of Zimbabwe in southern Africa would take action regarding long-delayed promises to distribute land to African farmers...

With growing threats to the independence and sovereignty of the African continent, the African Union held its 2012 summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on July 15-16. The meeting was originally scheduled to be held in Malawi, but the country’s new president, Joyce Banda, refused to host the event if Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir attended....

The Hunger Project reports that out of a global population of 6.8 billion, 925 million people do not have sufficient food for members of their households. Moreover, 98 percent of undernourished people live in the so-called developing countries — those states that are colonies or former colonies....

April 27 marked the 40th anniversary of the passing of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the founder of modern-day Ghana and a leading theoretician of the post-World War II national liberation movement for unity and socialism. Nkrumah’s legacy is reflected in the ongoing efforts of the peoples of Africa and the world who seek genuine freedom from colonialism, neocolonialism and imperialism....

Charles Taylor, former rebel leader and head of state in the West African country of Liberia, was convicted on April 26 by the Special Tribunal on Sierra Leone. The court, held in the Netherlands, was ostensibly set up by the United Nations in conjunction with the Sierra Leone government....

As the United States and the European Union escalate their military and economic roles on the African continent, mounting political crises have resulted in much social unrest. From Libya and Kenya to Nigeria and Somalia, internal turmoil, labor unrest and mass resistance illustrate the interconnectedness of events throughout the international scene....

International Women’s Day, commemorated on March 8, was founded in 1910 by European socialist women, to demonstrate solidarity with women worldwide. The special day honors struggles against inequality, oppression and war....

On March 2, the so-called U.N. Panel of Experts from the Human Rights Council issued a 200-page report on Libya, saying in essence that war crimes were committed by both the government led by Col. Moammar Gadhafi and the National Transitional Council forces that were put in power by the imperialist states. The report stated that Security Council Resolutions 1970 and 1973 were justified and legitimate and that the Gadhafi administration deserved to be overthrown by the Western states and their allies....

Workers in some factories and students in the universities in Egypt held strikes on Feb. 11, one year after the revolution that forced President Hosni Mubarak out of office and shook the world. A week earlier massive protests held the Egyptian regime and the police responsible for the deaths of more than 70 people at a soccer match....

Since the U.S.-NATO-engineered war began against Libya last March 19, a new
push has begun to recolonize Africa through the machinations of various
intelligence agencies, special forces and surrogate militias armed and trained
by the imperialists. Regional insecurity has grown rapidly....

A series of attacks have been launched against the U.S.- and NATO-installed
National Transitional Council in Libya. The most significant events occurred on
Jan. 23 when local forces still loyal to the former government of slain leader
Col. Moammar Gadhafi retook the city of Bani Walid, located 120 miles southeast
of Tripoli....

Long-time Tunisian ruler President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled his country
on Jan 14, 2011, for the monarchy of Saudi Arabia, where he has been granted
political refuge. The uprising that began in Tunisia 14 months ago was the
first in a series of events that have reshaped the debate and struggle in much
of Africa and the Middle East....

During mid-January, the number of deaths and injuries in Somalia escalated as foreign military forces accelerated their campaign to destroy the al-Shabab Islamic resistance movement and subdue areas of the country under its control....

In his speech assuming the rotating presidency of the United Nations
Security Council for the Republic of South Africa, President Jacob Zuma
criticized the U.N. for its stance that led to the eight-month war against
Libya....

Feb 11th, 2011, the whole world witnessed millions of Egyptian protesters marching in the streets of Egypt and protesting in Tahrir Square, demanding their basic human rights: dignity, freedom, and social justice. After decades of patience and suffering, Egyptians finally spoke out loudly and peacefully demanding the fall of a police-based authoritarian regime, the end of Mubarak’s dictatorship, and the establishment of a civilian, democratic state. Under the maximal pressure exerted by Egyptians, Mubarak was toppled. The Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) took charge in leading the country through the transitional stage. At that time, SCAF members and military personnel were regarded as heroes...

In Their quest for Dignity, Freedom, Justice, and Democracy, Egyptian &
Egyptian Solidarity Groups are calling upon people from all nations, races,
colors, and religions as well as human rights and peace groups and
organizations to join Egyptians abroad in their rallies to support the Egyptian
revolution....

In their quest for dignity, Freedom, Justice, and
Democracy, Egyptian Americans & Egyptian Solidarity
Groups are calling upon people from all nations, races, colors, and
religions as well as human rights and peace groups and organizations to join
Egyptians abroad in their rallies to support the Egyptian revolution....

Some 10,000 women of all classes and walks of life took to the streets of
Cairo on Dec. 20 to protest the military’s misogynistic, violent assaults
on Egyptian women. Many demanded that the military step down immediately....

The Wikileaks website released cables showing that plans for the Kenyan
military invasion of southern Somalia had been mapped out for nearly two years
and refuting claims that the intervention was done without Washington’s
knowledge. They showed that high-level meetings had taken place in early 2010
in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, which laid the ground work for renewed attempts to
eliminate the Al-Shabaab Islamic resistance movement that controls large
sections of the Horn of Africa nation....

A very important conference on climate change took place in Durban, South
Africa, during early December. COP 17 was sponsored by the United Nations and
was billed as an event that would bring all states and regions together to
hammer out a new agreement for limiting the rapid pace of global warming, which
many cite as the cause of the escalating problems of natural disasters,
droughts and mounting food deficits....

While the military government now says the turnout at the polls was 52 percent, lower than its earlier figure of 70 percent, many voters waited in line for hours to participate in the first of three elections for parliament. They saw the vote as a right won by the revolutionary movement....

The Kuala Lumpur
Foundation to Criminalise War is serious about getting George W. Bush and Tony
L. Blair arrested and prosecuted, after the milestone verdict of the Kuala
Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal, where they were found guilty of Crimes against
Peace, Crimes against Humanity and War crimes on 22 November
2011.&...

Dec. 17 marks the anniversary of a year of uprisings, strikes, government
resignations and regime change on the African continent. A resource-rich and
strategically located geopolitical region, Africa has experienced numerous mass
demonstrations, general strikes, rebellions and full-scale military assaults as
part of a heightening global class struggle for control of the
continent’s economic and political future....

Record numbers of Egyptian voters of all ages and classes, women and men,
cast ballots for a new parliament Nov. 28 and 29. Some waited in line for hours
to vote in the first election of its kind in 50 years....

The Western-orchestrated military effort to defeat the Islamic resistance
group Al-Shabaab in Somalia is bogged down, despite the deployment of the most
modern weapons against this people’s movement....

An all-out offensive against the Al-Shabaab Islamic resistance movement
based in Somalia is currently underway in the southern region of this Horn of
Africa nation. A combined force of U.S. Predator drones and French naval
vessels is targeting four towns in the southern region so that Kenyan military
forces on the ground can seize Kismayo, a port city under the control of
Al-Shabaab. The city is a major source of trade and serves as the economic
lifeline for the resistance movement, which has been labeled by the U.S. as a
terrorist organization allied with al-Qaida....

An all-out offensive against the Al-Shabaab Islamic resistance movement
based in Somalia is currently underway in the southern region of this Horn of
Africa nation. A combined force of U.S. Predator drones and French naval
vessels is targeting four towns in the southern region so that Kenyan military
forces on the ground can seize Kismayo, a port city under the control of
Al-Shabaab. The city is a major source of trade and serves as the economic
lifeline for the resistance movement, which has been labeled by the U.S. as a
terrorist organization allied with al-Qaida....

Occupy Boston and the United National Antiwar Committee
rocked the city’s business district as 5,000 protesters marched on Oct.
15 with cries of “Whose streets? Our streets!” A contingent from
Steelworkers Local 8751 representing Boston school bus drivers led the march
from a union sound truck festooned with placards declaring “Wall Street =
War Street.” The truck was ringed by a steadfast security contingent from
Vets for Peace/Smedley Butler Brigade....

It was called as a global Day of Rage that also focused on the 10th
anniversary of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Afghanistan. This
convergence of events on Oct. 15 put tens of thousands of people in motion here
in New York and in other cities across the country, reinforcing their anger at
imperialist wars....

News spread around the world on Oct. 20-21 that NATO planes had struck a car
caravan leaving Sirte in Libya, wounding Moammar Gadhafi, and that the Libyan
leader was captured alive and subsequently killed. The details of his death are
sketchy and may be purposely distorted or obscured by his killers. This main
fact stands out: It took the intervention of the imperialist air forces —
including a U.S. Predator drone and a French warplane — to end the life
of this African leader....

Another U.S. military intervention is underway, this time in Central Africa. The Obama administration announced on Oct. 14 that the Pentagon is deploying 100 military advisers and Special Forces troops to four countries: Uganda, South Sudan, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo....

U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, formerly director of the CIA, said
at a news conference at NATO headquarters on Oct. 6 that the nearly
nine-month-old war against the North African state of Libya would continue
until all vestiges of resistance on the part of the people were eliminated....

Despite the Sept. 15 visit to Libya of British Prime Minister David Cameron
and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the struggle for control of the oil-
producing North African state of Libya is far from complete. Battles for
control of Bani Walid and Sirte illustrate that supporters of Muammar
Gadhafi’s government still represent a disciplined fighting force against
the U.S./NATO fighter jets and military operatives backing the National
Transitional Council “rebels.”...

Below is the text of a recent interview John Catalinotto did with Junge Welt about his experience at the World Trade Center 10 years ago and the political consequences of the attack. The jW article is an edited and shorter version of the original comments in English....

U.S. imperialism is once again maneuvering to counter growing world support for the Palestinian struggle. Its primary motive is to protect the interests of U.S. capital in the Middle East, which center around, but are not restricted to, exploitation of the fabulous oil wealth in the area....

After nearly seven months of war against the North African state of Libya,
the combined forces of NATO and its National Transitional Council
“rebel” units are tightening their noose around the areas of the
country where armed resistance has prevented the counterrevolution from taking
over. Those millions of Libyans who remain loyal to the government and are
opposing the efforts to loot the national wealth of this oil-producing nation
are being pressured to lay down their arms and surrender....

By directing their enormous joint military and economic power against a
poorly armed, nonindustrialized country of 6 million people, the imperialist
states of North America and Western Europe have imposed a criminal regime on
the Libyan people....

We, the International League of Peoples' Struggle (ILPS), condemn in the strongest terms the US, NATO and their puppet forces for their barbaric military campaign against the people in the whole of Libya since several months ago and in Tripoli currently. The combination of escalated NATO air bombardments and ground movement of Libyan puppet forces and NATO special forces against Tripoli since 20 August aims to deliver the final blow on the Gaddafi regime....

Under the most incredibly difficult conditions – including NATO bombing, mercenary landings, Special Forces operations and the destruction of civilian infrastructure – the heroic resistance to imperialist conquest in Libya has continued....

A six-month-old war against the government of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya has reached a new stage as NATO escalated its intervention with air power, naval power, strategy and intelligence to push the Transitional National Council’s armed units into the capital, Tripoli....

The NATO powers of Europe and the U.S. are declaring victory after having pounded the small country of Libya for five brutal months. They are claiming that the “rebel” forces they command, whose road to Tripoli was paved by NATO air strikes that knocked out much of Libya’s civil and military capability, now control the capital....

On August 20, the African community of the world will register our condemnation of and resistance to the wars being made against our people and our freedom everywhere.We will oppose the heinous bombing of Libya and the violent attempt to overthrow that government....

Wednesday's (Aug. 10) first Planning Meeting of the Emergency Mobilization Against
Racism, War and Anti-Muslem Bigotry to counter the racist, right-wing forces on
Sunday, September 11 was a tremendous step forward. We discussed plans for a
Rally, March and Cultural Exhibition....

Extreme right wing racist forces, who last year whipped up an ugly climate
of hate against the Islamic Prayer Center at 51 Park Place, have announced new
plans for Sunday, September 11 this year at the same location....

Extreme right-wing, racist forces, who last year whipped up a climate of hate against the Islamic Prayer Center at 51 Park Place, have announced ugly new plans for this year -- the 10th anniversary of 9/11 -- at the same location near the World Trade Center site. This is a very dangerous threat. Anders Breivik, the racist, right-wing Norwegian responsible for the recent mass murder of 77 mostly young people in Norway, has quoted extensively from the writings of Pamela Geller of Stop Islamization of America and Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch. These are the two organizations opposing the Islamic Prayer Space at 51 Park Place....

For 18 days the people of Egypt gathered in the streets in the millions and brought down the 30-year reign of U.S. client Hosni Mubarak. This January 25 Revolution, named for its first day of protest, was led by youth and students....

June 18 — The Egyptian Socialist Party was founded here today before a packed auditorium of more than 400 Egyptians and international guests. What made such an assembly possible was the enormous mass revolution of last Jan. 25 that removed the U.S.-backed dictator Hosni Mubarak and made the name “Tahrir Square” an inspiration for popular revolt worldwide....

More than 85 percent of Egypt’s poor live in rural areas. Like all
Egyptians, they are participating in the protests held throughout the country,
and are expecting that a new Egyptian government will meet their urgent
needs....

In addition to the mass protests in Egypt, another arena for demanding
rights and fighting corruption has been Egypt’s independent trade union
movement. This movement expressed its solidarity with the demonstrators, and
added its clout to the struggle to bring down Hosni Mubarak five months
ago....

Thousands of angry Egyptians took to the streets of Cairo and Alexandria at
the end of June, battling the Central Security forces for hours before
successfully pushing the riot police back. These were the most intense clashes
in five months, since Egypt’s 18-day revolution in January that ousted
U.S.-client Hosni Mubarak....

If you went to a shopping center, a street corner or a graduate school of a top university in the U.S. and conducted a pop quiz asking who are the kings or crown princes of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Morocco and Bahrain; the emir of Kuwait, Qatar or Dubai; and the sultan of Oman, most people would not be able to name any of them....

Hear former U.S. Congressperson Cynthia McKinney, recently returned from leading a delegation to Libya during the U.S. bombing and former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, Akbar Muhammad & other leading opponents of the U.S. war on Libya along with VIDEO footage. ...

As the U.S./NATO war against the North African state of Libya entered its
fourth month, the House of Representatives voted on June 24 to withhold
authorization for the bombing campaign. In a resolution to support the war,
members of Congress turned down the Obama administration’s military
strategy by a vote of 295 against and 123 in favor....

Two NATO airstrikes on June 19 and 20 exposed even further the criminal
nature of the imperialist war against the North African state of Libya. On June
19 NATO forces struck a civilian residential area in Tripoli, the capital,
killing nine people in a household, including two children....

South African President Jacob Zuma paid a state visit to Libya on May 30 that proved to be a fruitless effort to bring about a ceasefire in the war launched by Western-backed rebels and NATO forces, which have intensified their bombing of the capital of Tripoli and other areas of the country. Zuma was acting on behalf of the African Union, which held an extraordinary meeting on May 25 aimed at bringing an end to the war against Libya....

fter nearly three months of U.S./NATO bombing operations over Libya, the North African state has remained defiant in the face of one of the most intense military operations in recent months by the imperialist countries of North America and Western Europe. Official NATO sources say that more than 10,000 sorties have been flown over the oil-rich nation resulting in large-scale destruction of the country’s infrastructure and the reported deaths of 10,000 to 15,000 people....

On direct orders from the Italian government, headed by Silvio Berlusconi (who himself faces many investigations), three Libyans were arrested in Perugia, including Ahusain Nouri, president of the League of Libyan students in Italy...

Congressional opposition to the president regarding the
authorization of U.S. military attacks against Libya has opened up a path for a
more popular participation in the struggle to end U.S. aggression in North
Africa. An IAC petition opened a light on this issue: violation of the War
Powers Act. The mass unhappiness with the war on Libya -- 70 percent of the
population opposing that war in polls -- is reflected in the act of Congress
challenging the administration, whatever the motivation of the individuals.
This mass displeasure is also reflected in the actions of political figures
like Cynthia McKinney in traveling to Libya to bring back the
truth....

he U.S. has now intervened militarily in Libya for almost 90 days. As we wrote last month (see petition), this is a violation of the War Powers Act. For the first time, the Congress has challenged the president regarding the War Powers Act. First the House voted to raise the question with President Barack Obama at the 60-day limit since the March 19 initial bombing raids. Then Republican Rep. John Boehner sent a message warning President Obama that he would have to justify the intervention....

Without presenting a shred of reliable evidence, NATO and International
Criminal Court conspirators are charging the Libyan government with conspiracy
to rape -- not only rape as the "collateral damage" of war, but rape
as a political weapon....

It is now 1:10 in the afternoon and as the daily life in Tripoli unfolds that
includes teachers, staff, and children at school, shopkeepers working in their
businesses, streetsweepers sweeping the streets, people moving to and fro in
the cars, on bicycles, and on foot, Tripoli has thus far since around 11:00 up
to now, received at least 29 bombs....

Speaking on Libyan TV May 21, former U.S. Congressperson Cynthia McKinney condemned the brutal war against the government and the people of that country. McKinney, an African American and a fierce critic of U.S. foreign policy in Africa and the Middle East, traveled to Libya as part of a fact-finding mission to expose the criminal nature of the war....

Founded in 1945 at the end of World War II, NATO was founded by the United States in response to the Soviet Union’s survival as a communist state. NATO was the U.S. insurance policy that capitalist ownership and domination of European, Asian and African economies would continue....

NATO has announced it will continue the criminal bombing of Libya for another 90 days. The U.S. Congress has postponed any vote on President Obama’s obvious violation of the War Powers Act. In the face of this, Cynthia McKinney has returned to Libya with a fact finding delegation to meet with Libyans under attack by NATO’s bombs. She plans to bring back to the U.S. documented evidence of NATO war crimes....

President Barack Obama delivered a foreign policy address related to
developments in the Middle East on May 19. The speech — which avoided
addressing the uprisings throughout North Africa, the Palestinian question and
the U.S./NATO war against Libya — created even more hostility toward his
administration domestically and internationally....

On May 19 the war against Libya will reach its 60-day mark. On that date this criminal war will be in explicit violation of the War Powers Act. The War Powers Act is a U.S. law that grew out of the struggle against the war in Vietnam. It requires a president involved in a military conflict lasting longer than 60 days to come before Congress for authorization to continue the war. Knowing that this war is immoral, illegal and based on lies, the Obama administration has refused to address the reasons behind initiating yet another war after years of death and destruction in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq. In the past 57 days of a war that was promoted as a "humanitarian
intervention" to enforce a "no-fly zone," the U.S. and NATO have conducted more than 2,500 bombing missions.
...

NATO airstrikes carried out April 30 against the home of the son of Libyan
leader Moammar Gadhafi killed three of Gadhafi’s grandchildren as well as
his youngest son, Saif al-Arab Gadhafi. The attacks took place amid a dramatic
escalation in fighting between Libyan government forces and the Western-backed
rebels in various parts of the North African state....

Despite what is being reported, the invasion of Libya has already begun. Units operating on Libyan territory for a long time have prepared the war and are carrying out the assault: they are the powerful oil companies and U.S. and European investment banks....

U.S., British and French imperialism have escalated their military intervention
in Libya beyond the criminal bombardment of Libya, begun on March 19. The one
dominant imperialist power and the two former colonial rulers of the world
jointly stated their intentions in a open letter published on April 15 in the
Washington Post and other media. U.S. President Barack Obama, British Prime
Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy wrote that their
goal was to remove Moammar Gadhafi, the leader of Libya. for good. That’s
what they call “regime change.” This is even in violation of the
resolution rammed through the UN Security Council. It is international
lawlessness on a grand scale....

Libya has the highest living standard in Africa. The "United Nations Development Program (UNDP) confirms that the country has excellent prospects for achieving United Nations development goals by 2015. NATO's war will have already dashed those hopes. A collapse like the one in Iraq now threatens the country.

There has been little reaching the European public in the past few years about Libya, whose relationship with the West had normalized. European leaders met with their Libyan counterpart Muammar al-Gadhafi often and business flourished. In the course of preparation for war, the country was suddenly transformed into the most evil dictatorship. Even many war opponents accepted this characterization as their own and now want to overthrow the "tyrant."...

The wave of confrontation churning though the Arab world came late to Morocco.
It was only on February 20 that the first demonstrations against the regime took place. Announced in advance, they attracted some 8,000 people in Casablanca and Rabat. Police dispersed them with brutal force....

The objective of the war against Libya is not just its oil reserves (now estimated at 60 billion barrels), which are the greatest in Africa and whose extraction costs are among the lowest in the world, nor the natural gas reserves of which are estimated at about 1,500 billion cubic meters. In the crosshairs of "willing" of the operation “Unified Protector” there are sovereign wealth funds, capital that the Libyan state has invested abroad....

The antiwar movement is back on the streets. Thousands marched on April 9 in
New York and April 10 in San Francisco. These demonstrations represented an important step forward for the United National Antiwar Committee and the antiwar movement as a whole. The new antiwar movement needs to oppose the US foreign wars but also defend the domestic victims of the "war on terror," the Muslims who are being attacked. It must connect the dots between the money spent on war and the attacks on unions and cuts to education and needed programs. This is what these demonstrations on April 9 and 10 did....

U.S., U.N. and NATO military forces have intensified the implementation of
policies aimed at total economic domination and regime change for states that
resist interference in their internal affairs. As Africa becomes more of a
major source for exploiting oil, strategic minerals and agricultural
commodities, the continent will be under increasing pressure from Western
capitalist countries....

Three thousand activists demonstrated against U.S. wars abroad on April 10 in San Francisco. Protesters rallied in Dolores Park in the city’s Mission district both before and after a march through the community. The United National Antiwar Committee sponsored the actions. Those who attended were buoyed by what they described as “the renewal of the anti-war movement....

Thousands of people from virtually all sectors of U.S. workers, the oppressed and youths gathered in Union Square in New York City April 9 and marched, shouted and drummed their anti-war slogans for two miles to Foley Square in downtown Manhattan. As this largest anti-war march in New York in years stretched for 20 blocks down Broadway, it passed by thousands of New Yorkers busy shopping, who smiled, cheered and waved at what can only be described as the new face of a vibrant movement to confront the war-makers....

The New York Times, the Washington Post and other corporate news sources are
now openly admitting that the opposition forces fighting the Libyan government
are supported and coordinated by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and
Britain’s MI6 with in-country special forces....

Now is a good time to watch, either again or for the first time, the
powerful 1981 film “Lion of the Desert.” It tells the story of Omar
Mukhtar, a legendary leader of the armed resistance to Italy’s colonial
conquest of Libya....

he Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has drawn an important
conclusion from the unprovoked bombing of Libya by U.S. and NATO forces:
Developing countries should never let down their guard and believe promises
made by the imperialists....

The right-wing, imperialist Italian government headed by Silvio Berlusconi
has joined France, Qatar and Kuwait in recognizing the so-called
“rebel” Libyan National Transitional Council. The recognition comes after chief executive officer Paolo Scaroni of
Italy’s giant oil monopoly, Eni, met with council members to discuss
reviving the company’s access to oil production now in
“rebel” territory. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, referring to Scaroni, said:
“He had important meetings on restarting cooperation about energy....

The historical tsunami that continues to shake the Middle East and Southwest
Asia has the apologists and strategists of imperialism scrambling to catch up
with events. “We have no permanent allies, only permanent
interests” seems to be their slogan, but this “pragmatic”
approach is fraught with unexpected dangers and contradictions....

For the second time in two weeks, French President Nicolas
Sarkozy has launched military operations aimed at overthrowing an African
government. This latest was a military assault against President Laurent
Gbagbo’s government in the Ivory Coast. Gbagbo has rejected the results
of a disputed run-off election held last November as well as calls from the
West and the regional organization ECOWAS for him to step down....

President Barack Obama’s speech of March 28 was largely devoted to justifying U.S. military intervention in Libya on humanitarian grounds, as being necessary to prevent a “massacre.” It was meant to obscure the fundamental fact that Washington is leading an effort, joined by the British and French imperialists, to destroy a sovereign government and recolonize Libya....

However the rebellion in Libya began, it was both inevitable and entirely
predictable that it would quickly become an opening for imperialist
intervention and counterrevolution in the oil-rich North African country....

he major national Antiwar Rallies in NYC
at Union Square, on Saturday, April 9 and in San Francisco on Sunday, April 10
are just 2 weeks away. Momentum is building based on the urgency of
responding to the new attacks in Libya, no end to the U.S. wars in
Iraq and Afghanistan, more attacks and threats to Gaza, ugly attacks on
Muslims, new attacks on unions and collective bargaining and a new rounds of
cutbacks of every possible social program, particularly hitting the Black and
immigrant communities and the unemployed....

The ferocious storm of uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East continues to stymie the efforts of the U.S. and other Western powers to suppress or contain them. There are ongoing significant protests in Yemen, Bahrain, Kuwait and Iraq, all places with a substantial U.S. military presence....

On March 17, 2011, Washington showed its true intentions by pushing through a U.N. Security Council resolution that amounts to a declaration of war on the government and people of Libya. A U.S. attack is the worst possible thing that could happen to the people of Libya. It also puts the unfolding Arab revolutions, which have inspired people across North Africa and Western Asia, in the gravest danger. The resolution goes beyond a no-fly zone. It includes language saying U.N. member states could "take all necessary measures" ... "by halting attacks by air, land and sea forces under the control of the Gadhafi regime."(CNN.com, Mar 17)...

The International Action Center calls on all anti-war and
social justice activists to call Emergency Response STOP THE
U.S. WAR AGAINST LIBYA AND BAHRAIN actions in their areas on
Friday, March 18 or Saturday, Marcy 19, or to mobilize support
for any already existing anti-war demonstrations called to
mark the anniversary of the Iraq War, with this statement and
signs to STOP THE U.S. WAR AGAINST LIBYA AND BAHRAIN, as well
as to intensify the mobilization for the April 9th and 10th
Anti-War demonstrations in New York and San Francisco called
by the United National Antiwar Committee....

March 15 — Events continue to unfold rapidly in North Africa and the Gulf states. On March 14 Saudi Arabia sent tanks and 2,000 troops into the kingdom of Bahrain to protect the Al Khalifa royal family there from mass protests demanding an end to the monopoly of political power in the hands of the king....

March 13 — Libyan government forces have taken several towns both east
and west of Tripoli, the capital, driving out rebel groups that have been
calling for military intervention by the imperialist states. Morale among the
opposition is reportedly declining in Benghazi, which has been the de facto
headquarters of the rebels....

With the corporate media’s attention concentrated on Libya, its oil
reserves and the real danger of U.S. and NATO’s military intervention,
one could almost forget that enormous popular revolts are percolating
throughout North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula....

As of March 7, Libyan military forces have stepped up their counteroffensive
against rebel units backed by the U.S. and European Union countries. Government
soldiers have retaken the town of Bin Jawad and are mounting assaults on rebels
near the oil port of Ras Lanuf as well as Az Zawiyah, Tobruk and Misurata....

The uprisings in Libya, coinciding with the struggles of other countries in North Africa and Western Asia respond to conditions similar to those of other countries but have very different consequences....

On Sunday, Feb. 27, Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannochi resigned; he was replaced
by the elderly Beji Caïd Essebsi. On Monday the ministers of Industry and
Finance, the last remnants of the old regime also resigned. In the evening so
did Nejib Chebbi and Ahmed Brahmi, representatives respectively of the
Tajdid movement and the PDP, the two legal parties under Ben Ali. On
Tuesday they were followed by two other ministers. We have lived without a
government for four days in which terror has been circling like a bird of prey
around the Qasbah: youth beaten, threatened, persecuted by police and hired
criminals who have taken over the streets of the Medina and the surrounding
April 9th Avenue. At the same time the space has been restructured and the
class divide has drawn new geographical lines: while still Qasbah snugly in its
sacred area, with its illustrious barbarians and hardened militants, the silent
majority, silent for 23 years, decided to speak for about two hours a
day, between 5 and 7 p.m., at a daily assembly convened at the Dome in the
pompous Olympic Village, to support Ghannouchi, demand an end to the
demonstrations and defend the "revolution" from those who want to
make one...

A new cabinet was sworn in on Feb. 22 in the aftermath of Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak’s resignation and the suspension of parliament and the
previous government. This was precipitated by the Feb. 11 Supreme Military
Council’s coup. The new cabinet’s appointment and publication of
the first set of political reforms on Feb. 26 is an attempt to address the
Egyptian people’s demands for a rapid return to civilian rule....

Less than a dozen years after NATO bombed Yugoslavia into pieces, detaching
the province of Kosovo from Serbia, there are signs that the military alliance
is gearing up for another victorious little “humanitarian war”,
this time against Libya. The differences are, of course, enormous. But
let’s look at some of the disturbing similarities....

The protests that we are witnessing in Libya must be examined carefully and
wisely. We have to realize that the intifada of Libya is not totally a genuine
one for reform; Part of it is provoked by the United States and the Zionists to
occupy this oil-producing country, under the pretence of
“democracy,” to get rid of its legitimate government for saying
“no” to US and Zionist domination. Those who broke ranks with
Gaddafi called upon the USto intervene, militarily if necessary, to get rid of
the legitimate government. This call gives an excuse for the US and its
European allies to pass a criminal resolution of the Security Council and
propose sanctions and a “no fly zone.” These actions remind us of
the same scenario that Iraq endured that caused its destruction. The infamous
resolution will give the US and its allies open interpretations and the options
of using military power that might lead to the invasion of Libya....

The leaders of the rebellion, meeting yesterday in the headquarters in
Benghazi, have concluded that on their own they will not be able to overthrow
Gaddafi. Therefore a majority of them asked for US-NATO intervention using
air power, beginning with the imposition of a no-fly zone on
Libya. "The United States - they say - brought democracy when
they intervened in Kosovo." A part of the rebel forces, however, thought
otherwise: "We must free ourselves on our own; if we ask for foreign
intervention it would be treason."...

March 2, 2011--"The United States is moving naval and air forces in the region" to "prepare the full range of options" in the confrontation with Libya: Pentagon spokesperson Col. Dave Lapan of the Marines made this announcement yesterday, March 1. He then said that "It was President Obama who asked the military to prepare for these options," because the situation in Libya is getting worse. The military then began "the planning and preparation" phase for an intervention in Libya. Pentagon planners are working on several specific plans, depending on how the “repositioning of forces” begins so as to have maximum flexibility to implement any option. ...

Libya had been an Italian colony until Italy’s defeat in World War II.
After the war, the U.S. and Britain set up a monarchy in Libya under King Idris
I. Moammar al-Gadhafi was a military officer when he led a coup in 1969 against
the monarchy. This led to the nationalization of Libya’s oil and social
gains for the Libyan people...

The White House is meeting with its allies among the European imperialist NATO countries to discuss imposing a no-fly zone over Libya, jamming all communications of President Moammar Gadhafi inside Libya, and carving military corridors into Libya from Egypt and Tunisia, supposedly to “assist refugees.” (New York Times, Feb. 27)...

The Al-Mahalla strike is part of the spate of industrial unrest that has rocked the country in the midst and aftermath of the 25 January revolution. Policemen, bank employees, workers at the Helwan Coke Company, in military production, cement, iron and steel and at the Suez Canal all struck for higher wages and improved working conditions, demanding an end to corruption in the workplace....

OIL became the principal wealth in the hands of the large yankee transnationals; with that source of energy, they had at their disposal an instrument that considerably
increased their political power in the world. It was their principal weapon when they decided to simply liquidate the Cuban Revolution as soon as the first, just and sovereign laws were enacted in our homeland: by depriving it of oil....

Protests continued throughout the country of Yemen on Feb. 21 to demand the
ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The demonstrations, which began during
the time of the uprising in Tunisia and gained traction with recent events in
Egypt, have increased in scope and intensity in the past 12 days....

Anti-government demonstrations have spread to the Horn of Africa nation of
Djibouti, where 30,000 people marched on Feb. 18 demanding the resignation of
President Ismael Omar Guelleh. Two people were killed when police attacked
protesters in this country’s capital, which is also called Djibouti....

The Egyptian military would like to put the genie of the
Egyptian Revolution back in the bottle. But it won’t go back. The
so-called “orderly transition” — backed by the Obama
administration, NATO and the Egyptian ruling class — has the immediate
tactical goal of pushing the masses of people off the streets and off the stage
of history....

Ghazala, a courageous woman, founder of the Committee of Unemployed
Graduates of Gafsa that so actively participated in the protests of 2008, has
given us a contact in Qasserine. We meet him halfway there, in Mejel Bel Abbes.
Boubaker, 33 year old, master's in engineering, also a member of the
Committee of Unemployed Graduates, is surviving by doing some odd jobs as an
electrician. He is tall, a bit prim, neatly dressed in the dignified severity
that attempts to preserve a modest sovereignty of his appearance in the midst
of difficulties. Like many educated young people in similar circumstances in a
situation where he is forced to remain single, he has wound up developing,
without wanting to, an air of a preacher or priest: there is something, how can
we put it, excessively clean in their dress and mannerisms. He speaks little
French, but has an almost scholarly knowledge of the history of the area, whose
natural wealth, well known by Romans, Vandals and Berbers, has been
misappropriated and wasted by postcolonial Tunisia....

The
greatest analysts of human society described real revolutions
as “festivals of the masses.” We see then that the 18 days
that overturned the Hosni Mubarak dictatorship is one of the
greatest revolutions in the history of humanity. Never before
have so many in such a condensed period of time become the
actors and writers of their own history. We congratulate the
people of Egypt for their tremendous victory over a tyrant who
for 30 years had the support of the “great powers” of the
European Union and especially of the United States until the
final moments of his reign....

The International Action Center joins with the people of Egypt and the world in
celebrating the stunning triumph of people's power and mass action in
Egypt. The greatest analysts of human society described real revolutions as
“festivals of the masses.” We see then that the 18 days that
overturned the Hosni Mubarak dictatorship is one of the greatest revolutions in
the history of humanity. Never before have so many in such a condensed period
of time become the actors and writers of their own history. We congratulate the
people of Egypt for their tremendous victory over a tyrant who for 30 years had
the support of the “great powers” of the European Union and
especially of the United States until the final moments of his reign....

From Gafsa to Redeyef you travel towards striped mountains that mark the
border with Algeria, under a pure blue sky, through a hard, dry terrain, a
planetary extension, which is about to succumb once more to the temptation of
being landscape: small towns with camels browsing between the houses, shepherds
with colorful headdresses, massive women sitting in the sun, wrapped in white
cloth, sharing tasks and conversation. Everything seems fresh, clean,
motionless, eternal and clear. But in reality there are few places in Tunisia
as ground down by its history as this square of adverse and ancient
land....

The Egyptian revolt against the U.S.-backed Hosni Mubarak regime has inspired many workers and oppressed people throughout the world. Mass solidarity demonstrations have taken place to show support for Egypt’s popular uprising. Here are brief reports on just a few notable actions, most of them on Feb. 5 or 6....

With the popular uprising that is rocking cities across Egypt now heading into its third week, solidarity rallies are building across the U.S. in response. Many of these protests are calling on the U.S. government to end its funding for the repressive regime of Hosni Mubarak....

Feb. 9 reports from Cairo say there are growing numbers of Egyptian workers who have gone out on strike all over the country, as the struggle to oust the despised, U.S.-backed Mubarak regime intensifies....

Feb. 8 — Hosni Mubarak’s military-police regime and its creators in Washington are waging a war of attrition to wear down the newly emerging Egyptian revolution. But the people show no signs of backing down. More than a million anti-government demonstrators today once again filled Liberation Square. Despite police-agent attacks, gradual escalation of pressure from the military and slanderous campaigns against the protesters on Egyptian state television, all reports are that masses of people have flooded into central Cairo to demand the immediate ouster of Mubarak....

"France is Paris, the rest is scenery," 19th century French
centralism said with contempt. Many times before we had been in central and
southern Tunisia, but we had never seen anything but flocks of sheep and
clouds, striated mountains and clean deserts, and people who seemed to
passively accept, in the villages and cafes along the highway, their condition
as a watermark or wrinkle in the tapestry. Our short and intense journey,
parallel to the turbulence that has shaken the country for more than a month,
reflects the decisive transformation, mental and material, of a landscape into
a territory....

This interview was conducted in bits and parts, in the middle of a protest
demonstration, stopping to talk once you recovered your breath after running
through the streets near Bourghiba Avenue. These are crucial days for the
revolution, but the glare of the mainstream media is now directed towards
Egypt. "Tunisia is not an international issue but a local one," the
Al Jazeera employees told us when we tried to inform them that Benali militia
had returned to their old ways in Sfax. Boukadous disagrees. "The
revolution began in the provinces and remains very active there."...

“You can only talk of revolution if there is a time when the whole
people go out to the streets to take part in a big festival. The victories are
celebrated and if we are not celebrating it's because there is victory. We
have not been able to celebrate anything in the street, not even the expulsion
of Ben Ali. And that means we have not yet won.”...

We returned this morning to Qasba, closed on all four sides by barbed wire.
The police only let in the employees who work in the district. But from the
outside we were able to see and photograph, the new lime painted on the walls
looking like a facelift, revealing a hidden history, a strangled antiquity.
There is no doubt they have done a good job. Not a trace of a slogan or a comma
of graffiti or stroke of black ink. Not even on the prime minister's stone
palace can you find the slightest trace of the noisy discussions that for five
days fused politics and life in a pure present without future....

The revolutionary upheaval in Egypt has brought millions of workers, youth
and professionals into the streets to demand the removal of the U.S.-backed
regime of Hosni Mubarak. The potential looms for a total collapse of
Washington’s foreign policy in the region....

Hamida Ben Romdhane, director of La Press on January 13, still director of La Press on January 30, writes an article today entitled "I am guilty,” in which he lashes out against "the smoothies, sycophants, calculators and manipulators" that for years have been lackeys in the service of the dictator's personality cult. "Today," he says, "Tunisia breathes freely and so does our newspaper. ...

After two weeks of restraint, in fact, the police have returned to take
charge of the situation. Yesterday they broke hands and legs in the Qasbah and
throughout the day lists have circulated of unconfirmed dead and missing. At
least 20 people were arrested this afternoon at the station. And on the Qasbah
square where yesterday there were still blankets, tents and cooking pots, some
dozens of mobile phones were scattered about. Of many of the people the police scattered yesterday nothing is known.Meanwhile this morning, 12 hours later, the walls of the building that for five
days was the ministry of the people were being painted over, the Press
published a front-page photograph of the crushed concentration under the
headline: "in the Qasbah the freedom caravan follows the protests."
The revolution is already a brand-name, the spark of life of a government that
weaves in the darkness and a press that uses new names to name the same
things....

At 9:30 a.m. a taxi driver answered our question about Mohamed Ghannouchi
with impeccable reasoning:“Do you know why I want him to go? Because he doesn't want to go.
If he doesn't want to go, it's because he is hiding something. If he is
hiding something, it can't be something good. And if he is hiding something
bad, he has to go.”...

Jan. 18 — A popular uprising in the North African state of Tunisia since mid-December has driven President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who had ruled the Western-allied government for 23 years, into exile. Ben Ali fled on Jan. 14 after tens of thousands of workers and youths attacked the Ministry of the Interior and other government buildings in the capital of Tunis and in the city of Carthage. When a street vendor who was attacked by police committed suicide by self-immolation on Dec. 17, it unleashed this enormous struggle. Defying tear gas and even live fire from the security forces that killed between 50 and 100 people, thousands also demonstrated in dozens of Tunisia’s provincial cities until they brought down a repressive head of state....

A dispute over a recent election in the West African state of Ivory Coast has prompted calls by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for President Laurent Gbagbo to step down. According to the U.N. head, the electoral commission has determined that opposition leader Alassane Ouattara won the election....

After the George Bush-Dick Cheney ticket stole the 2000 presidential elections, Halliburton Corporation became a household word in the United States. Vice President Cheney had been Halliburton’s CEO during 1995-2000. With its subsidiary, Kellogg, Brown and Root, Halliburton won lucrative government contracts during the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq....

Five Somali nationals were convicted of piracy in a U.S. federal court in
Norfolk, Va., on Nov. 24, with their sentencing set for March 2011. Based on
slave-era laws and criminal statutes that have not been enforced since the
1820s, the Somalis could be sentenced to life in prison....

Documents released by the WikiLeaks website under the direction of
Australian national Julian Assange provide insight into U.S. political
maneuvers on the African continent. Although more attention was paid to
diplomatic cables on events in Saudi Arabia, Britain, Iran, etc., there are
significant leaks related to the frustrations of the U.S. State Department in
influencing developments in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Morocco and
Algeria....

Thousands of people demonstrated in Madrid, Spain, on Nov. 13 in response to a Nov. 8 massacre carried out by Moroccan security forces in a displaced person’s camp at Laayoune, Western Sahara, in northwest Africa. Dozens of Sahawari people were killed, and up to 4,500 injured in the massacre....

A military and political crisis for the U.S.-backed Transitional Federal
Government in Somalia has prompted calls for additional troop deployments under
the ostensible command of the United Nations Security Council. Both the U.S.
and the secretary general for the U.N. have publicly acknowledged that nearly
8,000 Ugandan and Burundian troops propping up the TFG have not been able to
effectively challenge the growing influence of Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen
(popularly known as Al-Shabaab) and Hizbul Islam, the leading resistance groups
inside the Horn of Africa nation....

Many articles have been written reflecting on five decades of historical experience — referred to as the 50th anniversary of the “Year of Africa” — since 17 African nations gained political independence. Yet few pay adequate attention to the indispensable role of women in the campaigns for national liberation and their continuing efforts in the present century....

Following a protracted political struggle waged by Zimbabwe and its allies against U.S., British and European Union imperialist efforts to ban its sale of diamonds, Zimbabwe sold the first group of diamonds from the Chiadzwa mines — 900,000 carats — on Aug. 11. The sales earned $72 million in one day.

Government estimates are that at least $1 billion can be earned every year through the sale of diamonds just from the Chiadzwa mines. That would increase state revenues by 50 percent and could fund many social service programs....

Bomb blasts in and around the Ugandan capital of Kampala on July 11 killed at least 74 people who were gathered at a rugby club and an Ethiopian restaurant watching the finals of the 2010 World Cup....

Western imperialist states are continuing their efforts to undermine
Zimbabwe’s sovereignty. The most egregious campaign recently has been the
attempt to block the southern African nation from selling its diamonds on the
international market....

Israel and its apologists bristle when Israel is called an apartheid state.
Most loudly shouting, “Israeli apartheid,” however, are those who
know the best — the workers of South Africa, who suffered the most under
South African apartheid. South African trade unions have denounced the siege of
Gaza and the apartheid wall on the West Bank, and have urged forward the
boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign (BDS)....

The year 2010 is the 50th anniversary of the Year of Africa, when 17 former colonial territories gained their national independence during 1960.

The liberation movements in Africa had gained momentum after World War II, when the European colonial powers were weakened by their mutual destruction from 1939 to 1945.

Colonialism was a vicious system of national oppression and exploitation with origins in the Atlantic Slave Trade starting in the 15th century. After four centuries of enslaving Africans in Western Europe, the Caribbean, Latin America, North America and on the African continent itself, the imperialists solidified their colonial system with the 1884-1885 Berlin Conference....

African countries at the COP-15 climate change summit in Copenhagen led a
walkout for several hours on Dec. 14 to protest the efforts of the United
States, Britain and other imperialist countries and their allies to sidestep
responsibility for the worsening impact of carbon dioxide emissions. The
increasing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has caused
climate change that threatens the total collapse of agricultural production on
the African continent....

A recent statement issued by the Obama administration indicates that it is
planning to carry out aerial bombardments in the Horn of Africa nation of
Somalia. The announcement comes amid intense fighting in the capital of
Mogadishu between the two Islamic resistance movements, Al Shabaab and Hizbul
Islam, and the U.S.-backed Transitional Federal Government that is ruling the
country....

African countries at the COP-15 climate change summit in Copenhagen led a
walkout for several hours on Dec. 14 to protest the efforts of the United
States, Britain and other imperialist countries and their allies to sidestep
responsibility for the worsening impact of carbon dioxide emissions. The
increasing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has caused
climate change that threatens the total collapse of agricultural production on
the African continent....

A new chapter in relations between the People’s Republic of China and the African continent began during the Fourth Ministerial Conference of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum (FOCAC), which was held Nov. 6-9 in the Egyptian Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao announced eight new measures to enhance partnerships with 53 African states in the areas of agriculture, debt relief, market access expansion, climate change, medical affairs, education, environmental protection and promotion of investment....

A summit of African and South American leaders convened on the
Venezuelan-Caribbean island of Margarita Sept. 26-27. The gathering was a
follow-up to the first Africa-South America Summit held in Abuja, Nigeria, in
November 2006....

According to the history books, 100 years ago on Sept. 21, 1909, Kwame
Nkrumah, the founder and leader of the African independence movement and the
foremost advocate of Pan-Africanism during his time, was born in the western
Nzima region of the Gold Coast, later known as the independent state of
Ghana....

There was much anticipation on the African continent about Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton’s 11-day recent visit to seven countries. However,
the tour’s outcome largely reaffirmed the continuance of past U.S. policy toward Africa....

The failure of capitalist methods of production and distribution is clearly
illustrated by the way the collapse of the financial and industrial centers in
Western Europe and the United States has devastated former colonial countries.
Since late 2007 tens of millions of workers and farmers in several regions of
the African continent have been severely affected by unemployment, rising
commodities prices, food deficits and the decline in material aid from the
industrialized states....

For the better part of the last 75 years, revolutionary
peoples’ artist Irving Fierstein used his immense talent to depict the
many struggles of working and oppressed people for social and economic justice
and against imperialism. In the early 1980s Fierstein created a unique genre of
art—striking full-color revolutionary banners thoughtfully composed and
painstakingly painted by hand....

What distinguishes the contemporary economic crisis within global capitalism
from other downturns over the last three decades is that the rapid
deterioration of the social conditions of working people and the oppressed is
taking place simultaneously all over the planet....

A newly reconfigured Transitional Federal Government established during
early 2009 in Somalia has lost control of large areas of the country to the
al-Shabab and Hisbul Islam resistance organizations. On May 17 and 18, the
towns of Jowhar and Mahaday north of Mogadishu, the capital, fell to
al-Shabab....

A flare-up in tensions between Chad and Sudan during the week of May 4 has
exposed the continuing efforts of French and U.S. imperialism to dominate the
political and economic future of North and Central Africa. An effort by Chad
rebels to attack the capital N’Djamena and overturn the Idriss Deby Itno
regime was reportedly defeated May 7 after air power halted the rebel
advance....

Over the last several months, a series of dramatic cases involving police killings of civilians has brought to light the essential role of law enforcement within capitalist societies. Numerous cities throughout the United States have seen a dramatic increase in the murder of African Americans by cops as well as the escalation of raids and deportations against immigrants both documented and undocumented....

In the aftermath of the April 12 sniper killings of three Somali teenagers by the U.S. Navy, several U.S. agencies met on April 17 to conduct a review of military and foreign policy toward this Horn of Africa nation. The State Department, Pentagon and Justice Department have outlined a series of options
to ostensibly fight "piracy" in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean....

This Sudanese province is the theater of a conflict on which the international
opinion is rallying. As for any struggle on the African ground, we receive the
same images of misery: men are tearing, children are crying and blood is
flowing....

Review of progress and
assessment of implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action
by all stakeholders at the national, regional and international levels,
including the assessment of contemporary manifestations of
racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance...

We, the representatives of local, national and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other civil society groups from around the world gathered in Durban/South Africa during the week of 28 August – 3 September 2001 for the World Conference against Racism, Racial
Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR), guided by our
commitment in the struggle against racism and racial discrimination and inspired by the recommendations of the NGO Forums held in Strasbourg/France,
Santiago de Chile/Chile, Dakar/Senegal and Tehran/Iran and the related
sub-regional NGO meetings held in Warsaw/Poland, Kathmandu/Nepal, Cairo/Egypt
and Quito/Ecuador, in preparation for the World Conference, hereby make the
following Declaration:...

We express our full support for a strong Durban Review Conference, the NGO/Civil
Society Forum, the Conference on Palestine, and other similar activities being
held before and during the Review Conference that support the Conference and
the goals for which it stands....

After the execution of three Somalis and the wounding and capturing of
another in the Indian Ocean on April 12, a leader of the so-called pirates
vowed to avenge the deaths of these youth who held the U.S. captain of a cargo
vessel known as the Maersk Alabama for five days. Captain Richard Phillips was
released while the U.S. military and the corporate media hailed the killings of
the Somalis, saying the actions were justified....

Between 20-24 April 2009 the world will take either an important step forward towards prohibiting discrimination, especially racial discrimination, or an unfortunate step backwards, if
governments are unwilling to confront or even to discuss the core issues. Which
way the international community will go will depend largely on the activities
of states, and to a lesser extent civil society, participating in the Durban
Review Conference to be held at the UN European headquarters in Geneva....

The decision by the Obama administration to boycott
the Durban Review Conference Against Racism has raised a torrent of petitions,
protests and criticism. An actual boycott of the upcoming April 20-24 meeting
would be the first time that the United States has refused to participate in a
United Nations conference. This has come as a shock to many who expected a
fundamentally different attitude toward an international conference on racism
from the Obama administration....

Please sign a petition to President Obama urging the
United States to participate in the Durban Review Conference and its remaining
preparatory meetings. The United States is currently refusing to participate in
the Durban Review Conference, a United Nations Conference to discuss the
elimination of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related
intolerances....

The following statement was issued by members of the December 12th Movement, who held a press conference on March 21 in Harlem on the U.S.
government's refusal to attend the United Nations World Conference against Racism-Durban Review in April....

Sudan President Omar Hassan al-Bashir visited the North Darfur state capital
of El-Fasher on March 8 in defiance of an International Criminal Court warrant
issued for his arrest just a few days before. It was the first ICC warrant
issued against a sitting head of state. As he addressed a rally of tens of
thousands of supporters, the president defied the ICC and its imperialist
backers....

Manik Mukherjee, General Secretary of the International Anti-imperialist
and People's Solidarity Coordinating Committee (IAPSCC), has issued the
following statement condemning the indictment of President Omar Hasan Ahmad Al
Bashir of the Republic of Sudan by the International Criminal Court....

The same day that a unity government took office in Zimbabwe, Feb. 13, opponents of Western colonialism protested before the British and U.S. missions to the United Nations in New York City demanding an end to the economic sanctions imposed on this southern African country and the right to self-determination. ...

The following excerpts are from talks presented at a Feb. 8 "Zimbabwe: Pan Africanism or Imperialism" forum in Harlem, N.Y. The forum was organized by the December 12th Movement and Friends of Zimbabwe....

First, let us begin by saying thank you.
Thank you for demonstrating to and for African people and the world the courage
and conviction that must be had to be self-determining in the face of
insurmountable odds. Odds that would have crushed others with any less will to
be free....

The Ethiopian government on Nov. 25 announced it was withdrawing its
military forces from neighboring Somalia. This represents a defeat for the
foreign policy aims of Washington, which encouraged the government of Meles
Zenawi to invade Somalia in December 2006....

In a recent statement from the United Nations Mission in Congo (MONUC), the
possibility was raised of a greater military presence there under U.N.
auspices. This announcement comes at a time when there has been an escalation
of fighting between rebel groups and the Congolese National Army in North and
South Kivu provinces, located in mineral-rich eastern Congo....

During the last week of September, unprecedented fighting took place in
several areas of the east African nation of Somalia. This rising tide of armed
conflict is directly related to the resistance efforts of the Somali people against the occupation of their country by the military forces of neighboring Ethiopia. The Ethiopian invasion in December 2006 was fully supported, financially and militarily, by the U.S....

After months of painstaking negotiations between the ruling Zimbabwe African
National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and the two main opposition parties,
the Movement for Democratic Change-Tsvangirai (MDC-T) and the small breakaway
faction known as the MDC-M, the leadership of these organizations reached an
agreement to share power in a Government of National Unity (GNU)....

Manik Mukherjee, General Secretary of International Anti-imperialist and People's Solidarity Coordinating Committee (IAPSCC)attended the programme on National Workers Day Celebration on invitation from the Sudan Workers Trade Union Front (SWTUF). The Conference started on August 3, 2008 with nearly 2000 delegates from 20 countries at the Friendship Hall, Khartoum. The Text of Manik Mukherjee's Speech at the Conference is given below. ...

President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe was inaugurated for a sixth term on June
29 after winning a landslide victory on behalf of the ruling Zimbabwe African
Nation Union-Patriotic Front against the opposition Western-backed Movement for
Democratic Change-Tsvangira....

A political and military accord signed between the Sudanese government of Omar
al-Beshir and Chadian President Idriss Deby in January was dissolved in the
aftermath of an attack by a Darfur rebel group on May 10. The so-called Justice
and Equality Movement (JEM) carried out an assault in Omdurman resulting in the
deaths of approximately 200 people....

The Brooklyn-based December 12 Movement issued the following statement titled "West launches preemptive propaganda strike to depose presidency
of Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe" on March 30 from Harare, Zimbabwe....

Chad, in central Africa, was brutally conquered by France over a century ago and made part of its colonial empire. Today, while nominally independent, it is
the fifth poorest country in the world, according to the U.N. However, it has become a significant, though not major, exporter of oil in the past three years....

The U.S. and European imperialist powers are responsible for the genocidal
slave trade that decimated Africa, the genocide of the Indigenous population of
the Americas, the colonial wars and occupations that looted three-quarters of
the globe. It was German imperialism that was responsible for the genocide of Jewish people. To call for military intervention by these same powers as the answer to conflicts among the people of Darfur is to ignore 500 years of history....

For those people who know Mali's capital Bamako has only a handful of large buildings -- some government offices, the luxury hotel at 15 stories, the international bank and the great mosque -- it may have been a surprise that this city was picked for the African session of 2006's Polycentric World Social Forum (WSF)....

For the first time in the five years of the WSF's existence, the issues of Africa were at its center. According to Malian organizer Mamadou Goita, "We had over 300 people from the rural areas of Mali alone, while another 8,000 came from neighboring countries. All of them participated in the forum and enriched the discussions. This has never happened before."...

U.S. agents abducted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide of
Haiti over a week ago and flew him to this intensely poor former French colony
in the heart of Africa in an attempt to isolate him and keep him from telling
the truth about what has happened in his Caribbean country....